Srinagar: A diary recovered by the J&K Police has led them to believe that 23-year-old Yasir Ahmed, who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly murdering Director General (DG) of Prisons Hemant Kumar Lohia, may have been suffering from depression.
Some of the entries in the diary read: “I hate my life”, “Dear Death, please come into my life. I am always waiting for you”, and “My life 1% Love 0%, tension 90%, Sad 99%, fake smile 100% (sic)”.
Ahmed was hiding in a field in Kanachak of Jammu’s Ramban area when the police tracked him down Tuesday, said Additional Director General (ADG) Jammu Mukesh Singh.
Police suspect that Ahmed used a sharp-edged weapon to slit Lohia’s throat and stab him multiple times in the abdomen, before trying to set the body on fire and fleeing the scene.
Claiming responsibility for the murder, The Resistance Front — a group associated with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba — said in a statement Tuesday: “This is a small gift from us to Home Minister Amit Shah.”
Shah is on a three-day visit to the Union territory, his first trip to Jammu and second to Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
However, ADG Singh told ThePrint that while the J&K Police have “not found any links” between the murder and any terror outfit, a probe is still underway and it is still too early to rule out any possibilities.
“The weapon of offence has been seized, besides some documentary evidence, reflecting his [Ahmed’s] mental state,” he added, referring to CCTV footage showing Ahmed purportedly running away from the scene.
Also Read: Delhi garment trader arrested for operating hawala channels to ‘fund’ terror outfits in J&K
‘Used to apply oil on Lohia’s feet’
Lohia (57), the officer in charge of prisons in J&K, was found dead Monday at a friend’s residence on the outskirts of Jammu, where he had been staying with his family while their home was being renovated. Ahmed, it is learnt, worked as a domestic help at the residence of the DG’s friend.
“He [Ahmed] was hired six months ago and often applied oil on Lohia’s feet. On Monday, he went to Lohia’s room to apply oil and shut the door from inside. We suspect that he suffocated Lohia and then used a sharp-edged weapon to slit his throat. He then stabbed him multiple times to ensure that he was dead and also tried to set the body on fire before fleeing the spot,” a source in the J&K police told ThePrint.
The source added that it was the security guards who saw smoke coming out of Lohia’s room and raised an alarm.
According to the police source, Ahmed’s preliminary interrogation has revealed that he is “suffering from severe depression and is unstable”.
“He is also very aggressive and it appears that he killed Lohia in the spur of the moment,” said the source, adding that Lohia had “rebuked” Ahmed following a tiff between the two a few days ago and that might have angered the accused.
However, police sources reiterated that the motive is still unclear since Ahmed is not very coherent in his statements.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: ‘Can’t turn back the clock’: What legal experts say on abrogation of Article 370